Shanghai Free Trade Zone reports steady increase in import and export

Import has accounted for three fourths of the total trade volume in the free trade zone, and its regional importing and exporting volume kept a double-digit growth, 11.9 percent, in the first five months of 2018. The increasing rate of the importing and exporting volume in the zone still ranked top across the whole country.

During the first five months of 2018, the importing and exporting volume in the zone increased from 27.7 percent to 29.3 percent compared with the same period of last year, among which the importing volume increased from 33.8 percent to 35.1 percent, and the exporting volume increased from 18.4 percent to 20.3 percent.

At the same period, about 70 percent of the foreign trade came from three major countries, namely, the US, Japan and Korea; 20 percent came from the trade with the Belt and Road countries, and the trade volume with Central Asia, South Asia, West Asia and North Africa, and the Commonwealth of the Independence States increased 26 percent.

In terms of import, 12 types of the 16 major importing commodities have increased at varying degrees. The nine importing commodities in the FTZ accounted for more than 10 percent of the country’s total, among which watches accounted for 46 percent of the country’s importing volume, medical equipment and medicine accounted for nearly one third, and wine and liquor accounted for nearly one quarter of the country’s total import.

In terms of export, among the 14 major exporting commodities, nine have increased and five decreased. Ninety percent of the export volume was contributed by foreign-invested companies, especially the exporting divisions of the multinational companies.

The current trade friction between China and the US has a limited impact on the importing and exporting volume of the FTZ. Only 2.1 percent of the import commodities in the FTZ were affected by the trade friction, involving mainly plastic, soy, diagnostic reagent, and airplane. The related company operations in the zone have been rather stable.